172, 174, 180, 185), and al-Ḍiyāʾ in al-Mukhtārah (1/349), through the route of ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdalah:
Musʿab ibn Saʿd narrated to me from his father who said, “I said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, ‘Which people are tried the most severely?’ He replied, ‘The prophets, then …’ ”—and so on.
Al-Tirmidhī said, “A ḥadīth that is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ (good and authentic).”
I say: This chain is sound; every one of its transmitters is among the men relied upon by the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhārī and Muslim), except that ʿĀṣim is cited by them only in conjunction with another narrator and never on his own. Ibn Ḥibbān (698), al-Maḥāmilī (3/92/2), and al-Ḥākim likewise transmitted it through the route of al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Musayyab, from his father, from Saʿd, with the second wording.
Al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Musayyab and his father are trustworthy narrators included by al-Bukhārī, so the ḥadīth is authentic, and praise belongs to Allah.
It also has a corroborating report with the wording:
“The people who undergo the severest trials are the prophets, then the righteous. One of them may be tested by poverty until he can find nothing but the cloak he wraps around himself; yet he rejoices in affliction just as one of you rejoices in ease.”
144 – “The people who undergo the severest trials are the prophets, then the righteous. One of them may be tested by poverty until he can find nothing but the cloak he wraps around himself; yet he rejoices in affliction just as one of you rejoices in prosperity.”
Narrated by Ibn Mājah (4024), Ibn Saʿd (2/208), and al-Ḥākim (4/307) through the chain of Hishām ibn Saʿd, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khuḍrī, who said:
“I entered upon the Prophet ﷺ while he was suffering from fever; I placed my hand upon him and felt its heat between my palms above the blanket. I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, how severe it is upon you!’ He replied, ‘Such are we: the trial is doubled for us and so is the reward.’ I asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, which people are tried the most severely?’ He said, ‘The prophets—”